memeorandum: When the Magic Fades — At first it seemed like a few random cases … (David Brooks/New York Times)

12:30 PM ET, February 19, 2008

Top Items:

Clinton targets pledged delegates — Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign intends to go after delegates whom Barack Obama has already won in the caucuses and primaries if she needs them to win the nomination. — This strategy was confirmed to me by a high-ranking Clinton official on Monday.

philly.com:

John Baer: How Pa. extension benefited Clinton — HERE'S A LITTLE political banana peel. — Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign failed to file a full slate of convention delegate candidates for Pennsylvania's April 22 primary. — This despite the possibility the primary proves critical …

Discussion: TalkLeft, Matthew Yglesias, Marc Ambinder, Ben Smith's Blogs and Balloon Juice

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:
The Silence Of The Saps — The voters in the Democratic primaries …

Discussion: The New Republic and Political Punch

Joe Gandelman / The Moderate Voice:
The Politico: Hillary Clinton Campaign Targets Obama's PLEDGED Delegates (UPDATED)

Discussion: The New Republic and Daily Kos

Atrios / Eschaton: Ready to Lead — confidence building. … Missing almost 10% of them.

CNN:

Castro resigns as president, state-run paper reports — HAVANA, Cuba (CNN) — Fidel Castro announced his resignation as president of Cuba and commander-in-chief of Cuba's military on Tuesday, according to a letter published in the state-run newspaper, Granma.

James C. McKinley Jr / New York Times:

Fidel Castro Resigns as Cuba's President — MEXICO CITY — Fidel Castro stepped down Tuesday morning as the president of Cuba after a long illness, ending one of the longest tenures as one of the most all-powerful communist heads of state in the world, according to Granma, the official publication of the Cuban Communist Party.

Discussion: Megan McArdle, The Corner, Shakespeare's Sister, CNN, The Daily Dish, Think Progress, Commentary, NewsBusters.org, Matthew Yglesias, FP Passport, RealClearPolitics, Prairie Weather, The Great American Blog, Gawker and KnoxViews

Anita Snow / Associated Press:

Fidel Castro Resigns As Cuba's President — HAVANA (AP) - An ailing, 81-year-old Fidel Castro resigned as Cuba's president Tuesday after nearly a half-century in power, saying he will not accept a new term when parliament meets Sunday. — The end of Castro's rule - the longest in the world …

Discussion: Washington Wire, BuzzFlash.org, GINA COBB, Sweetness & Light, Redstate and The New Nixon Blog

Michelle Malkin:

Castro to resign; “This is not my farewell to you;” Update: US to maintain trade embargo — Update 11:03am. Cuban exiles in Miami react... “'I hope this is the beginning of the end of the system, but we have to wait,' said 35-year-old chemist Omar Fernandez, who left Cuba for the U.S. six years ago.”

Discussion: Babalu Blog, Associated Press, Power Line, The Nose On Your Face, The Belmont Club, snapped shot, ThreatsWatch, A Blog For All, Fausta's blog and Hot Air

Manuel Roig-Franzia / Washington Post:
Fidel Castro Stepping Down as Cuba's President

Discussion: Washington Monthly, Captain's Quarters and Connecting.the.Dots

Bloomberg:
Castro Resigns as President, Cuban Commander-in-Chief

Discussion: The Politico and Matthew Yglesias

Anthony Boadle / Reuters:
Fidel Castro retires

Discussion: Outside The Beltway and Firedoglake

Carol J. Williams / Los Angeles Times:
Fidel Castro to step down as Cuba's leader

Discussion: MiamiHerald.com and NewsBusters.org

David Brooks / New York Times:

When the Magic Fades — At first it seemed like a few random cases of lassitude among Mary Chapin Carpenter devotees in Berkeley, Cambridge and Chapel Hill. But then psychotherapists began to realize patients across the country were complaining of the same distress.

Discussion: protein wisdom, Washington Wire, Marc Ambinder, Wonkette, The Moderate Voice, Taylor Marsh and Commentary

Kevin Drum / Washington Monthly:

THE OBAMA BUBBLE....Paul Krugman this morning: … Right on cue, here's David Brooks tonight: … A “backlash” from a conservative like Brooks is hardly a surprise. Still, I think Krugman is right: bubbles always burst, and Obama has been riding a major league bubble for months now.

Discussion: Make Them Accountable, NY Daily News and Matthew Yglesias

Will / Attytood:

A landmark day for bloggers — and the future of journalism — The George Polk Awards are kind of like the Golden Globes of American journalism . Not as well known as those Oscars of the news business, the Pulitzer Prize, the Polk Awards are nevertheless probably a close second in terms of prestige …

Discussion: New York Times, Gawker, Romenesko and Comments from Left Field

Joe Strupp / Editor and Publisher:
Slain Editor Bailey Among George Polk Award Winners

Discussion: The Moderate Voice

Ed Morrissey / Captain's Quarters:

Feels Like The First Time — Does a hostility about one's own country provide a good basis for a campaign? John Podhoretz notes the very strange assertion from Michelle Obama as she campaigned for her husband in Wisconsin. It comes as a piece with her exhortation at UCLA two weeks ago …

Discussion: Commentary, You Decide 08!, UrbanGrounds, Balloon Juice, Hot Air, Lean Left, Suburban Guerrilla and Macsmind

James Joyner / Outside The Beltway:
Michelle Obama Finally Proud of USA

Discussion: The Moderate Voice, Political Machine, Washington Monthly, Too Sense and Confederate Yankee

ABCNEWS:

The Note: Blue Cheese — On Wisconsin, A Chance for Obama to Roll — Or Clinton to Mount a Comeback — The polls are open and voting is already under way in the Badger State. The polls are set to close at 9pm ET in Wisconsin, but don't lose any sleep staying up for the Hawaii caucus results.

Discussion: JSOnline and The Fix

Jeralyn / TalkLeft: Wisconsin Election Thread I

Damozel / The Moderate Voice:

Has Obama Been Sufficiently Vetted to Survive the GOP Machine? — Larry C. Johnson of No Quarter has been arguing for quite some time that Obama is insufficiently vetted to withstand attacks from the right. In a recent piece in The Huffington Post, he discusses the basis of his concerns.

Discussion: The New Republic

The Huffington Post:
LARRY C. JOHNSON

Discussion: The Ruckus

Ann Althouse / Althouse:

Why I'm voting for Obama in the Wisconsin primary. — I said I was going to write this post, so I'd better do it. As I said, I want to do an archaeology of the archive and trace my response to Barack Obama as I did to John Kerry in an old 2004 post called “How Kerry lost me.”

Discussion: Shakespeare's Sister, MyDD, The Mahablog and Prairie Weather

Jeffrey M. Jones / Gallup:

Obama Gaining Among Middle-Aged, Women, Hispanics — Also running even with Clinton among core Democrats — PRINCETON, NJ — The momentum in the Democratic nomination race has clearly swung toward Barack Obama. Not only has he won all of the post-Super Tuesday contests …

Discussion: The Swamp

MSNBC:

U.S. strikes in Pakistan — without notice — Unilateral attack on al-Qaeda commander called a model for operations — In the predawn hours of Jan. 29, a CIA Predator aircraft flew in a slow arc above the Pakistani town of Mir Ali. The drone's operator, relying on information secretly passed …

Edward Luce / Financial Times:

Obama seeks Ohio's blue-collar vote — Barack Obama on Monday made an aggressive pitch at Ohio's blue-collar workers by proposing a “Patriot Employers” plan that would lower corporate taxes for companies that did not ship jobs overseas. — The proposal, which came two weeks …

Discussion: Clive Crook and Redstate

James Vicini / Reuters:

Supreme court won't review Bush domestic spying case — WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a legal challenge to the warrantless domestic spying program President George W. Bush created after the September 11 attacks. — The American Civil Liberties Union …

Discussion: TalkLeft and Macsmind